A heart arrhythmia is a heartbeat that’s too slow, too fast, or irregular. We treat many types of arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation (AFib), ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation.

AFib causes a fast, irregular heartbeat that makes your heart’s upper chambers quiver, rather than pump with force. This causes blood to pool in your heart, which can lead to a blood clot.

Similar to AFib, atrial flutter is a fast but steady heartbeat. Left untreated, it may lead to cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart muscle), stroke or heart attack.

Bradycardia refers to a slower-than-normal heartbeat. This can prevent the body from getting the blood oxygen it needs.

Long-term conditions such as COPD, diabetes and high blood pressure should be monitored on a routine basis.

Congenital heart defects are problems with the heart’s structure that develop before birth. These may include defects in the walls or valves and can include atrial septal defect, aortic stenosis, patent foramen ovale (PFO), ventricular septal defect (VSD) and valve stenosis.

Coronary artery disease is caused by a buildup of a fatty substance, called plaque, inside the arteries that supply blood to your heart. It’s a leading cause of heart attacks.

Heart attacks happen when an artery leading to your heart is blocked. This cuts off blood supply and causes damage to the heart muscle.

Also called congestive heart failure, heart failure takes place when your heart doesn’t pump enough blood. It’s caused by either stiffening or weakening of the heart muscle.

• Systolic heart failure: The left ventricle of your heart, which pumps most of the blood, has become weak. This usually happens because it's gotten bigger. Since it's larger, the ventricle can't contract the way it should. Because of that, your heart doesn't pump with enough force to push blood throughout your body.
• Diastolic heart failure: The left ventricle has become stiffer than normal. Because of that, your heart can't relax the way it should. When it pumps, it can't fill up with blood as it's supposed to. Because there's less blood in the ventricle, less blood is pumped out to your body.

When one or more of the heart valves don't work properly, it changes the way your heart pumps blood.

If you have an artificial heart valve, it changes the way blood flows through your heart. Blood movement can also slow down around the valve itself. Both can cause a blood clot. If your valve replacement is made from animal or human tissue (biological valve), you’ll only need to take blood thinners for a short time after surgery while your body adjusts to the new valve.

High blood pressure happens when the force of blood pushing against your artery walls is higher than normal. Over time, this pressure stretches and damages the arteries, which leads to heart and vascular disease.

Atherosclerosis is a condition caused when your blood vessels become narrow from a buildup of a fatty substance called plaque. This condition can raise your risk of a blood clot. Plaque that forms in the arteries in your heart is called coronary artery disease. When plaque forms in your arms and legs, it’s known as peripheral artery disease. Your doctor may also prescribe blood thinners if you’re at risk for a stroke or you’ve had one, or if you have a deep vein thrombosis.

Conditions that affect your blood vessels include aortic aneurysms (bulge in the major blood vessel), carotid artery disease, peripheral artery disease, deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in a vein) and others. We also treat varicose veins and spider veins.

3D pictures of your heart and arteries that you doctor can view using nuclear medicine,  CTs and MRIs. These include CT angiograms (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiograms (MRA).

A minimally invasive procedure, where your doctor makes a small incision (cut) in your upper thigh or arm and inserts a catheter (a thin, flexible tube) into a large blood vessel that leads to your heart. Your doctor will then evaluate blood flow in and around your heart to determine if you have any heart disease.

This test monitors your heart while you’re walking on a treadmill. If you can’t exercise, you’ll be given medicine to raise your heart rate instead.

Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (CPR) is a type of rehabilitation program designed to improve the physical and emotional well-being of people who have heart or lung problems. This program typically involves a combination of exercise, education, and counseling to help people recover from heart or lung surgery, manage chronic conditions such as heart failure or COPD, or improve their overall cardiovascular health.

The program is usually tailored to the individual needs of each patient and may include supervised exercise sessions, dietary counseling, smoking cessation counseling, stress management, and education about medications and medical conditions. The ultimate goal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation is to help patients regain their strength, improve their overall health and quality of life, and reduce their risk of future complications.

A health diagnosis such as cancer, chronic pain or heart disease can cause anxiety, depression and other behavioral health issues. PeaceHealth offers supportive care, medicine management and therapies to help you cope with pain, treatments and stress or anxiety.

An echocardiogram uses ultrasound (sound waves) from a wand-like device called a transducer. A sonographer glides it across your chest to examine your heart after a heart attack or to check for a heart murmur.

An EKG is a test to evaluate your heartbeat and diagnose heart arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats). Your doctor places stickers with tiny electrodes on your chest to measure your heart’s electrical activity.

An EPS maps how electrical signals travel through your heart and diagnoses arrhythmias. Using catheters (small tubes), it measures activity in different parts of your heart; delivers medicine to alter electrical activity; or stimulates or slows down your heartbeat. It’s also used to guide catheter ablation.

You can help you lower your risk of heart and vascular disease with expert advice, education, nutritional guidance, lifestyle recommendations and screenings. We also offer teen heart screenings.

We bring together the patient and their family and friends to build a supportive and informed environment that helps empower the patient to reach treatment goals.

These tests use a small amount of a radioactive substance (tracer) and a camera to see how much blood your heart muscle receives (blood flow) and pumps out with each heartbeat. A nuclear imaging test can also be performed as a stress test, called myocardial perfusion, to assess your heart during exercise.

Surgeons use advanced techniques to treat many conditions that affect the arteries, veins and lymph vessels. These include peripheral artery disease, aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease, deep vein thrombosis and more. 

A test to discover any narrowing, blockages or abnormalities in your veins and arteries. Your doctor may use this test to diagnose peripheral artery disease or deep vein thrombosis.